Male sooty grouse in Washington are characterized by light gray tail bands, 18 tail feathers, and yellow bare patches on the side of their neck which they expose during display. They also perform a loud hooting display.

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Male dusky grouse in Washington are characterized by indistinct tail bands (if present at all), 20 tail feathers, and red bare patches on the side of their neck which they expose during display. They also perform a quiet hooting display.

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Female dusky grouse (shown) are easy to distinguish from males of either species, but difficult to distinguish from female sooty grouse.

Dusky grouse and sooty grouse were first described by Lewis and Clark in the early 1800s. In the 1900s, they were combined into a single ‘blue grouse’ species. In 2006, the American Ornithologists Union ‘split’ the blue grouse into the dusky and sooty grouse. Despite the name change, dusky and sooty grouse can be difficult for many people to recognize. The two species have subtle differences in appearance and behavior and little overlap in distribution; sooty grouse generally are found in the relatively moist west-side habitats, while dusky grouse occupy drier east-side habitats.

Dusky and sooty grouse are found throughout western North America. Their range extends from the southern portions of Alaska and the Yukon, south along the Pacific Coast to northern California and east to the Rocky Mountains (New Mexico to Alberta). In Washington, dusky and sooty grouse are found in mountainous areas wherever open coniferous forests are present. They are closely associated with true fir and Douglas fir forests in winter and habitats that are often more open during summer.

Male dusky and sooty grouse perform a hooting display when they are on breeding territories during the spring. Each hooting display consists of a sequence of 5-7 low frequency ‘hoots’ that are detectable from 100 meters (dusky grouse) to more than 2 kilometers (sooty grouse). The males of both species also utter a single ‘whoot’ note when they are displaying to a female that is detectable from about 2 kilometers. Male dusky grouse perform a ‘flutter jump’ which is a loud flight that is detectable from about 1 kilometer. Male sooty grouse exhibit a similar behavior called ‘landing on loud wing’ display where they create an unusually loud noise at the end of a short flight, often while landing in a tree.